A 37-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Hastings man Johnny Charles Wright.
He appeared in the Hastings District Court on Friday charged with murder and assaulting a female.
Handcuffed to a detective, with an arm heavily decorated with bulldog tattoos, the man represented himself in the absence of his lawyer. He told Justices of the Peace his lawyer was in Wellington and unable to attend, and gained name suppression "so I can tell my family".
"[Otherwise] my elderly mother might have a heart attack," he said, addressing in-court media.
Wright, a 50-year-old sickness beneficiary, was reported missing by family in July.
